Thurso one of three colleges which could merge to create new opportunities for students and staff
NORTH Highland College UHI in Thurso is one of three colleges which could merge to "unlock new opportunities for students, staff and local communities."
Under the plan Thurso would link up with Lews Castle College UHI in Stornoway and West Highland College UHI to form a new college within the University of the Highlands and Islands partnership by January 2023.
In a joint statement issued on behalf of the three college principals they said: "We believe this is a unique opportunity to develop a new college of scale and impact that serves and supports around 9000 students in 20 remote rural and island campus locations across the Highlands, Skye and the Western Isles.
"We will bring together and build on existing excellence and expertise within our three organisations in order to drive a step change for education from school to university as well as in research, enterprise and innovation in our region." They added: "While there is a huge amount of work to be done over the next few months to explore with our key staff, students and stakeholders whether this can be successfully achieved, we agree that this is the absolute best option for our colleges.
"We believe we can better serve our students and our communities by providing a wider range of study options for our students and strengthened career pathways and job satisfaction for our staff.
"We will also be able to unlock new opportunities for future strategic development and investment through ambitious collaborations and projects that, as single small colleges, we are unable to achieve."
To progress the plan, a Merger Partnership Board has been formed to achieve the vision and aims of all three colleges and to steer the process.
The board consists of the principals and chairs of the three organisations, with staff and student representatives from the three college boards and members of the Highlands and Islands Students’ Association. The board will develop a proposal which will inform the final decision of each of the college boards involved.
The board is chaired by Dr Michael Foxley, who served as the University of the Highlands and Islands regional lead for Further Education between 2014-2021.
A merger co-ordinator will be appointed in the next few weeks and will work across all three colleges "to support the Merger Partnership Board, associated work streams and the full consultation process."